License Issue Figures Large in Local Races

BUFFALO — When she arrived at an assisted living center for a candidates’ forum here recently, Kathleen C. Hochul, the Erie County clerk, spent a few minutes explaining what county clerks do. As the audience listened sleepily, Ms. Hochul, a no-nonsense lawyer, quickly reeled through an explanation of housing permits, business registrations and her plan to shorten lines at the downtown auto bureau.

And then, Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, made a point — as she often does these days — of describing one service she most definitely does not intend to offer.

“I do not support the governor’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants,” she said to whooping cheers and applause. “I have a problem with that, ladies and gentlemen.”

So do lots of other local office seekers across the state. The plan, which Gov. Eliot Spitzer unveiled with little warning in September, has triggered widespread opposition and injected into the normally sedate off-year elections volatile debates over immigration policy and terrorism.

And much anger remains even after Mr. Spitzer revised his plan last Saturday, saying the state would also offer two other kinds of licenses, neither of which would be available to illegal immigrants and both of which would satisfy new federal security rules. Even under the new plan, critics point out, illegal immigrants could still get a state license.

“Nothing’s changed,” Ms. Hochul said in an interview on Tuesday. “It’s all anyone wants to talk about.”

None of the state’s top officials or legislators is on the ballot in Tuesday’s elections. But dozens of clerks, county executives and town supervisors are. And in some areas, Mr. Spitzer’s proposal has the potential to overwhelm the more parochial concerns on which such contests usually turn.

For Mr. Spitzer himself — now struggling to regain the overwhelming public support that sent him to office in a landslide — Tuesday’s election will be the first chance to gauge whether the anger he now faces is merely a passing storm, or something more lasting.

Republicans have seized on the controversy and say it is energizing their voters.

In Nassau County, for example, the issue has come to dominate the tight race for a seat on the County Legislature that, if won by the Republican candidate, would swing control of the body back to that party, dealing a significant blow to state Democrats. The Democratic incumbent, David L. Mejias, said he opposed the initial plan, and he called the governor’s revised version “unworkable.”

But his Republican opponent, Joseph Belesi, has nonetheless painted him as a close ally of the governor — and his license plan — in a series of fliers and mailings that have blanketed the district.

“This issue resonates with the people here because they see it as illegal, and immoral, and I think it has shifted things in my favor,” said Mr. Belesi, a retired police officer.

Mr. Spitzer’s new policy has sent a particular shudder through the ranks of county clerks, 23 of whom are up for re-election Tuesday. In most counties, the clerks process driver’s license applications on behalf of the State Department of Motor Vehicles.

A majority of those clerks voted for a resolution condemning the policy during a hastily called meeting of the state clerks’ association last month, and some have said they would refuse to enforce the policy, which is scheduled to take effect late next year.

Ms. Hochul went a step further. If anyone comes to the main clerk’s office seeking a license with a foreign passport but without a valid visa stamp, Ms. Hochul said, she will process the application — and then pass the person’s name on to the county sheriff as a possible violator of immigration law.

The clerk of neighboring Niagara County is making similar plans, and others may follow. Kathleen A. Marchione, the clerk of Saratoga County and head of the clerks’ association, said that the governor’s revised plan had done little to allay the clerks’ concerns.

“Our position as an association has not changed,” Ms. Marchione said. “This is still a major issue for us.”

Photo

Kathleen C. Hochul, the Erie County clerk, at a candidates forum. She opposes licenses for illegal immigrants.Credit
Doug Benz for The New York Times

But perhaps no local official has been put on the spot quite like Ms. Hochul (pronounced HOKE-ul).

Though Erie County residents seem to support one part of Mr. Spitzer’s new plan — the introduction of two kinds of federally recognized licenses, one of which could be used by United States citizens to cross the Canadian border without passports — Ms. Hochul said that they continued to oppose allowing illegal immigrants to obtain the new plan’s third tier of license, akin to the current standard driver’s license.

“This has really become the centerpiece of this race,” Ms. Hochul said. Buffalo is a border city, she notes, and memories of the six Qaeda recruits, American citizens of Yemeni descent, who once lived in nearby Lackawanna are still fresh.

In fact, Ms. Hochul’s husband, an assistant United States attorney for the Western District of New York, was the lead prosecutor on the case. The six men, who had traveled to a Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2001, pleaded guilty three years ago to charges of providing support to a terrorist organization.

Moreover, Ms. Hochul is herself a Spitzer appointee; she got the job in April after Mr. Spitzer appointed David J. Swarts, the previous Erie clerk, to be the new state commissioner of motor vehicles. Ms. Hochul even held a meet-and-greet for Mr. Spitzer at her home during last year’s campaign.

“I support him on the environment. I support him on worker’s comp reform. I support him on job creation. I support what he’s doing on the waterfront here,” Ms. Hochul said. “But this is an issue I disagree with him very strongly on. And he knows that.”

Ms. Hochul abstained from voting on the clerks’ resolution last month. But she has since registered her disagreement with Mr. Spitzer in myriad ways. She has asked the State Legislature to hold hearings in Buffalo on the issue, sent letters of protest to the governor and to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. She also requested a formal opinion from the Erie district attorney on whether the new policy is legal and enforceable.

But her Republican challenger, William A. O’Loughlin Jr., whose otherwise uphill bid for the Erie clerk’s job has received a boost from public outrage over the licensing issue, has said that is not enough. Mr. O’Loughlin, a local businessman and councilman on the Amherst town board, had previously built his campaign around promises to extend the office hours at satellite bureaus and to root out patronage in the operation.

If the governor “brings along a contingent of state police and says, ‘Here’s two illegal immigrants, give them a driver’s license or I’ll put you in jail,’ I’ll say, ‘Show me the handcuffs,’ ” Mr. O’Loughlin said in an interview.

Though no public polling is available on the race, interest in the licensing issue is intense. The two candidates spent most of a recent 90-minute debate discussing Mr. Spitzer’s policy, which has dominated local talk radio. Their positions on the issue are often the first thing the candidates are asked about, and each is running television advertisements explaining how they will oppose the policy.

“We wanted to talk about our record during the last seven months,” said Ms. Hochul, sounding wistful. She noted that she had expanded electronic filing, created a new call center and added satellite auto bureaus during her brief tenure. But the license issue, she said, is “all anyone wants to talk about.”

The clerks’ protests are not likely to have much practical effect on illegal immigrants seeking licenses. The Spitzer administration estimates that about 80 percent of those seeking licenses will do so in the 10 counties — including Nassau, Suffolk, Onondaga and the five boroughs of New York City — where the state runs its own D.M.V. offices rather than relying on county clerks to process the paperwork.

But the issue has brought a swift response from local lawmakers and candidates. About 20 county legislatures are considering resolutions condemning the new policy or orders to their county clerks not to comply, and several have already passed such legislation, according to Ms. Marchione, the Saratoga County clerk.

Meanwhile, candidates who may never have mentioned illegal immigration now find their positions on the licensing issue closely scrutinized.

Mr. Belesi, for example, has been arguing that Mr. Mejias spoke against the governor’s plan only after Mr. Belesi made an issue of it — a criticism that seems to frustrate Mr. Mejias. “As a county legislator, I never spoke out against the genocide in Darfur, either. I had no reason to raise the issue of the governor’s license plan because it had nothing to do with the business of the Legislature.”

Ms. Hochul, for her part, is not about to let anyone mistake her position. “I feel very strongly that the Erie County Auto Bureau should not facilitate violations of immigration law,” Ms. Hochul explained. Asked how many illegal immigrants she expects to come in seeking licenses, Ms. Hochul responded with a single word.

“None,” she said.

Nicholas Confessore reported from Buffalo and Paul Vitello from Long Island.

A version of this article appears in print on , on page 137 of the New York edition with the headline: License Issue Figures Large in New York Races. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe